By Bir Uyghur
Bilal Bilici, a Turkish MP from the nationalist Iyi Party (Good Party), has raised the issue of Uyghur human rights in the Turkish parliament and posed the question, “Why are the following Uyghur leaders are barred entering Turkiye? While no other country in the world got such practice?”. He listed several prominent Uyghur leaders who have been banned by the Turkish government.
In his speech in the TBMM, Mr. Bilici said, “The Uyghur leaders who have been tirelessly working to raise awareness about the genocide against the Uyghurs, such as the President of the World Uyghur Congress, Enver Tohti, former director Dilshat Rishit, manager Mehmet Tohto, and former President Rabiye Kadder, all of whom consider Turkey as their second homeland. We bring this matter to the attention of our great nation. It is urgent to put an end to the extrajudicial and illegal practices against our brothers and sisters of the same kin.”
The Turkiye has been hosting apporxiomately 50,000 , the largest Uyghur diaspora after Central Asian countries. Turkiye has been criticized by human rights experts and advocacy organizations for being very passive in terms of addressing the Uyghur genocide with the Chinese government.
The ruling Ak party has blocked a bill that askes Turkish parliament investigate Uyghur human rights situation in Uyghurstan.
Suleyman Soylu, the former Interior Minister of Turkey, has been condemned by prominent Uyghur groups for labeling the Uyghur genocide as a game orchestrated by the United States against China. The reports by Aydinlik and other pro-Chinese media outlets in Turkish regarding his comments on the Uyghur issue being manipulated by the U.S. were deleted after Uyghur Times reported on the matter. This indicates that Turkish authorities are paying attention to the online discourse surrounding the Uyghur situation.
